What videogames are you playing in 2026?

[Parmandur]

I played a little bit of Air Riders with my nephews recently, it was fascinatingly bizarre, I do kind of appreciate the one-button control scheme, but I wish they'd been more keen to play Smash Bros, which I am bad at, but bad at in a way which makes sense to me rather than just being confused!

It's a pretty wild ride, but that's Kirby.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Ive been playing Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and i love it. It adds to the original story in small ways thst i like, giving more character to minor characters for instance.

At some point i will finish my gnome artificer playthrough of BG3...

I just dont actually find the main story all that compelling, and i find the racial essentialism implied in how the goblins act for instance to be deeply cringe. And I dont care about mindflayers usually so that doesnt help.

And...somehow it makes 5e combat kinda boring without extensive mods. Like, bonus action to jump is crazy. Trying to play a monk like that was painful. And tbh they game plays better if you cheat-level to 3 at the end of the tutorial and go from there, increasing the difficulty if needed to compensate. 5e characters are terrible to play in a video game until level 3.

What I have played of Solasta is actually a lot more fun in terms of actual gameplay, though, so I am very interested in Solasta 2.


Finally, I have played a little bit of DA Veilguard, and I like it so far. The opening action is fun if repetitive with DAI, and nearly all NPCs so far are just furniture, not even one-note talking furniture, which is disappointing.


Overall, I would say that what I want and am not currently finding is an RPG with no filler.

Don't make me to BS in order to move along, just get to the next thing. FF7 Remake is especially annoying about this, but at least it's side quests are mostly very short. BG3 you can skip basically anything but the game sucks if you do. (and who is gonna not get a dog and an owlbear cub?)

I just want something that is like a final fantasy game but with the only side quests existing in parts of the game where you aren't thematically supposed to be getting the heck on with something important. Not sure what I want even exists tbh.

 

[pukunui]

Finally, I have played a little bit of DA Veilguard, and I like it so far. The opening action is fun if repetitive with DAI, and nearly all NPCs so far are just furniture, not even one-note talking furniture, which is disappointing.

The opening sequence is great, especially the way it doubles as a tutorial.

How far have you gotten? As I mentioned above, I'm now starting my fourth playthrough!

I've just started over again, though, as I wasn't sure about the rogue - struggling with both melee parrying (even with it set to forgiving) and aiming with the bow. I've remade my LoF Qunari into a warrior and I'm going to try out the slayer specialization instead.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The opening sequence is great, especially the way it doubles as a tutorial.

How far have you gotten? As I mentioned above, I'm now starting my fourth playthrough!

I've just started over again, though, as I wasn't sure about the rogue - struggling with both melee parrying (even with it set to forgiving) and aiming with the bow. I've remade my LoF Qunari into a warrior and I'm going to try out the slayer specialization instead.

I have gotten barely past the intro basically. First mission after waking up in the dream base.

 

[Gradine]

I just want something that is like a final fantasy game but with the only side quests existing in parts of the game where you aren't thematically supposed to be getting the heck on with something important. Not sure what I want even exists tbh.

If you haven't played any Suikoden games they are pretty straightforward where the "side quests" are mostly just going around recruiting people for your army. Suikoden I + II remastered came out about a year ago on pretty much everything and I'd highly recommend it.

 

[jian]

If you haven't played any Suikoden games they are pretty straightforward where the "side quests" are mostly just going around recruiting people for your army. Suikoden I + II remastered came out about a year ago on pretty much everything and I'd highly recommend it.

I’ve only completed one Suikoden game - Suikoden Tierkreis on the 3DS - but even with the slightly janky early 3D graphics it was absolutely banging, with great anime character designs and making you care about most of the 108 characters you could collect. Highly recommended.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

If you haven't played any Suikoden games they are pretty straightforward where the "side quests" are mostly just going around recruiting people for your army. Suikoden I + II remastered came out about a year ago on pretty much everything and I'd highly recommend it.

I will definitely check it out, thanks!

 

[pukunui]

I have gotten barely past the intro basically. First mission after waking up in the dream base.

Ah OK. It's worth continuing IMO.

One thing that irks me with Veilguard is the clipped way everyone speaks. Too many sentences starting with a verb. Feels like internet forum post language rather than actual spoken dialogue. Wish it was more natural-sounding. Really annoying on the fourth go-round.

 

[Gladius Legis]

Finished up my Tactician difficulty playthrough of Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles. It's not really harder, per se, it just makes you play a different way. All those abilities that inflict status effects and debuffs that you ignored in standard FFT because damage just ruled the day, you actually have to use them in Tactician.